A Note on the Names of the Thracian Sailors

A NOTE ON THE NAMES OF THE THRACIAN SAILORS Ivo Topalilov Abstract: The present paper deals with the spread of the name C. Iulius among the Thracian sailors in the Roman fleet in the second century. Analysis of Roman diplomas reveals that C. Iulius was one of the typical military names that soldiers of peregrine origin, such as these Thracians, would take if they had no other preferences. The name had a good, very Roman sound to them. In the second century, however, there were still Thracian aristocrats whose Roman citizenship can be linked with Caligula. This shows that, on the one hand, the name may have indicated hereditary dignity when associated with the aristocracy and descendants of the last Thracian kings; but on the other hand, it could have revealed a typical military background when held by newly Romanized Thracians in the second century. Rezumat: Lucrarea de față tratează răspândirea numelui de C. Iulius printre marinarii traci din flota romană a sec. al II-lea. Analiza diplomelor militare relevă ideea conform căreia C. Iulius reprezintă unul dintre cele mai răspândite nume militare pe care soldații de origine peregrină, precum acești traci, l-ar adopta dacă nu ar avea alte preferințe. Numele avea o bună rezonanță romană pentru aceștia. Cu toate acestea, în sec. al II-lea, existau încă aristocrați traci a căror cetățenie romană putea fi legată de domnia lui Caligula. Acest lucru ne arată că, pe de-o parte, numele ar putea indica o demnitate ereditară atunci când este asociat cu aristocrația și cu urmașii ultimilor regi traci, însă, pe de altă parte, ar putea semnala un trecut militar specific, atunci când era deținut de tracii poraspăt romanizați în sec. al II-lea p.Chr. Keywords: Thracian, onomastic, C. Iulius, fleet, Roman. Cuvinte cheie: Traci, onomastică, C. Iulius, flotă, romani. In the time of Vespasian, after a wide-ranging reorganization of the Roman fleet, both the Misenum and Ravenna fleets received the honorific title praetoria. Despite this, however, both fleets remained full of peregrini.1 But by this act the fleets were undoubtedly equalized with another similar military institution, equites singulares Augusti. It is well established that the latter also contained peregrine soldiers, who at their adlectio received the names of the Roman emperor under whose reign they had been enlisted into the Guard.2 This practice, not surprisingly, was applied to both fleets, with one difference – the sailors were allowed to choose names other than those of the emperor.3 By this time, around the end of the first/beginning of the second century, the name and filiation type nomenclature that had previously been used had  1 2 3 Shumen University, Department of History and Archaeology; e-mail [email protected]. See on the status of the sailors – Starr 1993, 66-74; Kienast 1966, 26-29; Reddé 1986, 526. Speidel 1994, 10-11. Salomies 1996, 174. PEUCE, S.N. XVI, 2018, p. 199 - 204 200 Ivo TOPALILOV been replaced by that of tria nomina obtained by newly recruited sailors.4 As with the equites singulares Augusti, the soldiers simply received a Roman name, and not Roman citizenship. A proof for this may be the military diploma issued on 1 August 142 for M. Ulpius Bizae f. Rivoze or Rivozis from Nicopolis ex Bessia who served in the classis praetoria Ravennas5 and clearly enlisted in 116. This document implies that he enlisted at the very end of Trajan’s reign, and upon his enlistment received the imperial names. Such cases, however, are very rare, and the practice was abandoned in the time of Trajan himself, as seen in the diploma issued for another Thracian sailor from the Ravenna fleet, who originated from Nicopolis ex Bessia and was discharged with our M. Ulpius Rivoze – that of L. Petronius Eptaezeni f. Eptaetralis.6 The tria nomina also spread in the nomenclature of the Bessoi, who were one of two major contingents recruited for the Misene fleet.7 It has been suggested that recruiting this horse-loving, trouble-making barbarian tribe into the fleet was intended to pacify them,8 but it is also relevant that recruitment usually focused on poorly Romanized areas,9 and we can also add incompletely urbanized areas like Bessica itself.10 The only exception seems to have been in 133/134, when a special recruitment of Thracian soldiers to meet the needs of the Misenum fleet was carried out,11 but on this occasion in urbanized territories such as those of Philippopolis, Augusta Traiana, and Nicopolis ad Istrum.12 Among the earliest attested Bessoi with this new nomenclature is C(aius) Iulius Candidus / n(atione) Bessus, who was mil(es) ex clas(se) / pr(aetoria) Mis(enensi) and who is known from his funerary stele set up in Carales, Sardinia.13 The date of the stela is Trajanic/Hadrianic. In this case, one should remember also the diploma of C. Iulius C. f. Valens Tralles, who was an eques of cohors III Gallorum discharged on 19 July 114 and who clearly received his Roman name on discharge.14 Other Thracian sailors Cai Iulii are attested a few years later on both military diplomas and funerary stelae. They are presented in table 1. On the military diplomas, one can easily observe peregrini who seem to have received Roman citizenship upon 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Salomies 1996, 168-169. RMD V, 392. RMD IV, 264. Starr 1993, 77. Tatscheva 1999, 863-872. Salomies 1996, 168. Topalilov 2013, 251-264. Roxan 1995, 110. Topalilov 2013, 252. EE VIII, 1, 709. On the diploma – see Roxan, Paunov 1997, 269-279. A Note on the Names of the Thracian Sailors 201 discharge. For instance, C. Iulius [---] from Philippopolis has the distinguished Thracian paternal name Seuthes, the one from Nicopolis ex Thracia which is in fact Nicopolis ad Istrum, and whose father was probably Epta[centis]. These C. Iulii are no doubt new citizens, and therefore a hereditary link should be excluded with an older C. Iulius, such as a veteran like C. Iulius Valens Trallus, or others like the C. Iulii among the Thracian aristocracy attested in inscription found near Topirus from the time of Claudius I.15 It is also obvious that no connection with any other persons who had obtained Roman citizenship and names under Caligula should be establsihed. A link with the emperor himself or one of the Julio-Claudian emperors should also be excluded, given that that these soldiers were of low social status. 16 We do not yet know why the name C. Iulius was chosen by some of the Thracian sailors, though not many of them. Of the repertoire of Roman gentilicia that the soldiers took, Iulius is one of the most popular; it is second only to Valerius. The reasons for this are not yet clear, but some suggestions can be made. For instance, if we consider the examples studied by O. Salomies, we would expect that these veterans may just have received the name of the man who was provincial governor of Thrace when they were recruited.17 Therefore we should expect that in c. 133-134 the legatus Augusti pro praetore of Thrace was a certain C. Iulius, to whom was entrusted the extraordinary recruitment needed for the Misenum fleet, whose soldiers were transferred to strengthen the Legio X Fretensis because of the Bar Kochba revolt in Judaea.18 If this was the case, it could also provide a clue to how recruitment for the fleet was carried out. Table 1 only shows that that this recruitment was so huge that the sailors could have been discharged on at least two dates, as two different praefecti classis praetoriae Misenensis are mentioned on the military diplomas. Unfortunately, our knowledge of Thrace's provincial governors in the 30s of the second century is far from complete and we cannot say if a legate with the name C. Iulius governed the province. Thus, we are aware of [? Cavarius Fronto who was governor c. 135/136,19 Agrippa in 131/132,20 who is also attested in the hagiographical sources,21 and a certain Publius […] dated roughly to 129-136.22 It seems that Publius 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 I Thr Aeg, 84 Salomies 1996, 174. Salomies 1996, 173-174. See Starr 1993, 188; Roxan 1995, 110; Paunov 2005, 47; Eck 2007, 30-38. Šarankov 2014, 38-45; Šarankov 2017, 205-206. Thomasson 2011, 22:017. Šarankov 2015, 17-26. Thomasson 2011, 20:015. 202 Ivo TOPALILOV […] was prior to Cassius Agrippa's (?) governorship, as Agrippa was legate when the question of the border of the administrative territories was sent up to the emperor Hadrian, as the case with Abdera reveals (ἡ Ἀδριανέων Ἀβδηρειτῶν πόλις),23 but it was solved under the governorship of Cavarius Fronto.24 It is more likely that the governorships of Agrippa and Cavarius Fronto were successive.25 Table. 1. C. Iulii among the Thracian sailors. No 1 2 3 4 5 Name of sailor C(aius) Iulius Candidus / n(atione) Bessus C(ai) Iuli Pudentis, mani(pularis) lib(urna) Libertate / qui Dines Sautis / nat(ione) Bessus C(aio) Iulio R(h)eso, manip(ulari) / ex III(triremi) Fide nat(ione) Bess(o) C(aio) Iulio Epta[---Ni]/copol[ ex Thracia] C(aio) Iulio Seuthi f(ilio) Bitho Philippop(olitano) ex Thr(acia) Praefectus Unknown Find-spot Sardiania Reference EE VIII, 1, 709 Unknown Unknown CIL X, 3590 Unknown Unknown AE 1949, 208 Sub Tut]icano Capitone Unknown RMD V, 425 Unknown Paestum RMD 2, 105 Another possible solution to the problem of why the Thracian sailors chose the name C. Iulius is the fact that it was borne by a different praefectus classis praetoriae Misenensis or subpraefectus.26 One such person, for instance, is Iulius Crescents, whose term of office started in AD 160, as is revealed by a military diploma issued for an unknown sailor27 and who was clearly praefectus classis praetoriae Misenensis until at least AD 166.28 It is established that on 15 September 134 the prefect was M. Calpurnius Seneca, and after that most probably M. Gauius Maximus.29 Before 15 September 134, however, the situation is uncertain as there is a gap. Thus, we are aware of a certain Iulius Fronto on 18 November 129,30 who could have held office until the second half of 134 and been replaced by M. Calpurnius Seneca. If so, this Iulius Fronto could have given his name to some of the newly recruited sailors. 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 I Thr Aeg, 78, 79. Šarankov 2014, 38-45. I am very grateful to Nicolay Šarankov for drawing my attention to this fact. Salomies 1996, 170. RMD III, 172. CIL XVI, 122. Reddé 1986, 674. Reddé 1986, 673. A Note on the Names of the Thracian Sailors 203 It is, however, not certain that this man was named C. Iulius, although it is very likely, and that his office lasted till 134, although this too is possible. Besides, there is no compelling evidence that the sailors took his name. 31 It seems that C. Iulius was a very popular name among the sailors, and especially in the Misenum fleet, and it is attested in the nomenclature of almost all nations that provided soldiers for the fleet – Egypt,32 Syria,33 Cyrene,34 Pannonia,35 Ponticus,36 Italy,37 Bithynia,38 Germania,39 Raetia,40 Moesia Superior41 and so on. It is therefore likely that a newly recruited man simply received the name of some of his comrades. A very good example of this practice is the case of C. Scentius Celer, due to the fact that Scentius was a very specific gentilicium and therefore quite rarely attested.42 This could hardly explain all the cases of C. Iulii in the fleet. The name C. Iulius, just like the name C. Valerius, however, might have sounded very Roman, and therefore attractive to the newly recruited soldiers, and this may be the case with most of our examples. I would not be surprised if C. Iulius was one of those typical military names which soldiers of peregrine origin would take if they had no other preferences. If so, we may conclude that in the second century, in the provinces and military camps, the name C. Iulius signalled a link with Caligula if held by an aristocrat with or without royal origin,43 as is the case with C(aius) Iul(ius) Maximus Mucianus, vir clarrisimus, [latoclavo honoratus a] divo Pio, q(uaestor) pr(o) [pr(aetore)] per provinciam Pontum et Bith(y)niam, aedilis cer(i)a(li)s, praetor designatus, item de(curio) Philipp(is) et in provincia Thracia, and his brother C(aius) Iulius Teres, thracarches, known from inscriptions set up in Philippi an dated to the time of Marcus Aurelius,44 but if held by a newly named person it signalled a man of low social status with a military background. If so, this would point to a rather interesting 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 Salomies 1996, 170. AE 1983, 189; AE 1996, 425; CIL VI, 3117; CIL X, 3469; 3583; 3589. AE 1953, 26; CIL VI, 32774. CIL VI, 3115. CIL VI, 3156 = CIL VI, 3157. CIL X, 3425. CIL X, 3485. CIL X, 3490. CIL X, 03588. AE 1988, 314. RMD V, 449. Topalilov 2013, 252-258. C. Iulius Roemetalces (II) - Pilhofer 2000, 213, No. 199/L 309. See for them Pilhofer 2000, 66-68, No. 61/L 50; 256-259, No. 240/L 465; 366-367, No. 357/L 120. 204 Ivo TOPALILOV phenomenon, with the same name indicating hereditary dignity on one side, and a typical military background on the other. Aknowledgements My sincere thanks go to K. Low for the comments on the draft and English proofreading. BIBLIOGRAPHY Eck, W. 2007, Rom herausfordern: Bar Kochba im Kampf gegen das Imperium Romanum. Das Bild des Bar Kochba-Aufstandes im Spiegel der neuen epigraphischen Überlieferung, Roma. Kienast, D. 1966, Untersuchungen zu den Kriegsflotten der römischen Kaiserzeit, Bonn. Paunov, P. 2005, A Hadrianic diploma for a Thracian sailor from the Misene fleet: 25 December 119 AD, ArchBulg 3, 39-51. Pilhofer, P. 2000, Philippi, Band II. Katalog der Inschriften von Philippi, WissenUntNeuTest 119, Tübingen. 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